Rules of Endearment
by saucykate
Summary: As Eames' use of pet names escalates, so does Arthur's attraction to him. Arthur/Eames.


**Title:** Rules of Endearment  
><strong>Fandom:<strong> Inception  
><strong>Rating:<strong> PG-13  
><strong>Pairing:<strong> Eames/Arthur  
><strong>Word<strong>**Count:** 1,742  
><strong>Warnings:<strong> No real big spoilers for the movie.  
><strong>Summary:<strong> As Eames' use of pet names escalates, so does Arthur's attraction to him.  
><strong>Notes:<strong> written for this prompt at inception_kink on LJ: _Arthur__has__stopped__complaining__about__and__now__actually__responding__to__Eames'__various__pet__names__for__him.__Eames__finds__this__endlessly__amusing__(and__also__a__little__sexy)._

**Disclaimer:** Inception, the ideas behind it, and these characters do not belong to me; I'm just playing in their universe.

**Rules****of****Endearment**

The first time Eames calls Arthur _darling_, on the Fischer job, Arthur freezes. Outwardly, he acts calm and put together, because he knows that Eames is just trying to get a rise out of him as usual, but inside, the moment the word 'darling' passes Eames' lips, Arthur's stomach begins to flutter and his cheeks feel too warm. He catalogues this reaction and puts it in the box in his head marked "later", but he's already annoyed by it.

(He'd managed to avoid being affected by any of Eames' past advances, and he'd have preferred it to remain that way. Eames is very much not Arthur's type, except that he is, and Arthur knows the worst thing for people like Eames to discover is that the person they're attracted to is actually attracted back.)

By not showing a reaction, however, Arthur begins to adjust to being called 'darling'. He tries to train himself not to react whenever he hears it from Eames and makes rules for himself: no licking his lips or snapping his head around to make eye contact, and it is _absolutely_ unacceptable to start answering to 'darling' as though it is another form of his name. He will not respond to it, not until Eames clarifies that he means Arthur, and that should, successfully, keep Eames from realizing the power of his stupid little pet names.

This backfires rather spectacularly when Eames says, "darling, I'd be much obliged if you'd pass me a pen," and Arthur picks up a marker from the whiteboard and hands it to him without ever looking up from his laptop. It takes him a full minute and a half to even realize what he'd done, and he mentally curses himself once it hits. (From the perplexed and slightly aroused way Eames is looking at him, Arthur muses that it didn't take Eames nearly so long to figure it out.)

Arthur hopes in vain for several days that Eames has not figured him out. He checks the information on their latest job, negotiates the acquisition of a new dose of sedative from Yusuf, and takes calls from Saito about Cobb's wellbeing. He helps Ariadne conceptualize new mazes for the two-level dream they'll be using. He decidedly ignores Eames, lurking in the background and being a general annoyance to everyone. There's no need for forgery in this latest job, but for some reason, Eames has stuck around anyway.

About a week after his slip up, Arthur comes out of a preparation dream to see Eames smirking at him from the chair across from him. He sighs inwardly and prepares himself for harassment, but all Eames does is smile warmly and say, "you should let me help test the kicks, pet." _Pet._ Arthur's mouth goes dry and his heart beats faster, and he tries to keep his expression schooled normally. His eyes feel very wide; they're locked onto Eames', which are a startling shade of blue-green. He's never noticed that before. "Pet?" Eames asks, as though he's testing this reaction. Arthur scowls furiously.

"I don't answer to anything other than Arthur," he says firmly, standing up from his seat and stalking out. He can't see Eames smirking after him, but he knows he's there. He can feel Eames' eyes on him all the way out of the warehouse.

'Pet' and 'darling' are interchanged for awhile, usually in front of the others for Arthur's maximum level of embarrassment. He attempts to ignore them, tries not to answer to them, but his subconscious has started associating the use of these names with himself, and eventually it happens again. Eames enters the warehouse two days before the job and deposits some folders on the table with a quick, "pet, you should take a look at this when you've got a moment."

Without thinking much about it or even turning around to face him, Arthur says, "when I get some time," and waves him away. A moment later, he registers that Eames is still standing there, staring at him with an odd expression on his face, like he's found something unexpected. Arthur thinks back to their previous exchange and realizes his slip with horror. It's not even as though he's the only one around; Ariadne is finishing up a maze a table away from him and Yusuf is stirring compounds in the back. Eames is smirking again; Eames is _always_ smirking, these days.

Arthur knows this time that it won't go unremarked. Oh, Eames will wait a few days, maybe even a week, before finding some new way to exploit this unexpected weakness, but he's nothing if not perceptive about people, and Arthur's reactions to the use of pet names have been too damn obvious. Arthur decides to take a vacation after they complete the job, before Eames has time to formulate a new way to make him squirm.

Unfortunately, he doesn't bank on the job falling through. (Cobb is the best extractor in business, but with him home with the kids, the team is still getting used to the new dynamic. Cobb may have been useless occasionally on jobs, but he was a spirit that kept everyone else bound, and without him, Arthur finds that jobs get disjointed, thrown into chaos much more easily.) They return to the warehouse to find a message from their employer requesting that they try again with better success. No vacation for Arthur.

He considers sending Eames away from them – it's not like he's involved in this latest job at all – but for some reason, everybody else _likes_ Eames and enjoys having him loitering uselessly around, occasionally offering his (Arthur hates to admit this) perceptive observations. Maybe if Eames didn't make Arthur feel as though his whole body was surging with adrenaline and constantly on fire, he wouldn't mind his presence, but Arthur is not really willing to concede that. (Plus, that would mean admitting that Eames gets a reaction out of him, which is simply _unacceptable._)

So Arthur is stuck with Eames, and Eames keeps dropping 'darling' and 'pet' like they're going out of style. Arthur hasn't heard his real name in weeks, and the warm glow he feels at the terms of endearment makes him furious, because it's not as though Eames actually _means__it_. They're not affectionate, not because Eames has feelings for him or finds him special – they're just for the purpose of getting under his skin.

A week after the botched job, Ariadne leaves early to go out dancing with some friends and Yusuf has gone back to Kenya to fetch some supplies. Arthur works late, as usual, and after seeing neither hide nor hair of Eames all day, he lets his guard down. He's writing key brainstorming phrases on the whiteboard to get himself to think of a better plan to extract the target information, big letters spelling out "FAMILY BUSINESS" and "INHERITANCE" and "ILLEGITIMATE CHILD?", when a warm, solid weight appears behind him and a familiar English accent speaks softly in his ear.

"I don't think there are any illegitimate children, love." _Love_. Arthur feels his face heat and his palms begin to sweat, and Eames is _so__close_ that if he stepped back he'd encounter solid flesh. His brain shorts out for a few moments before he realizes Eames is still talking, but by this time, the shock and flattery have transformed into fury. He turns around and cuts Eames off mid-sentence, noting after the fact that their faces are entirely too close together for comfort. "Call me _Arthur_!"

Eames is startled. "I beg your pardon?" he asks, very politely, as though Arthur didn't just yell in his face.

"I'm tired of you," Arthur growls, hurt and outraged and trying to keep it all locked down. Calm and cool, that is the key. "I'm tired of your little joking names for me. You call me 'love'? Do you even know—" and he breaks off angrily, losing his train of thought. Eames has taken a step back, surprised at getting such a strong reaction. "Every time you say that, it's like you're mocking me."

Arthur may give Eames no credit for intelligence, but the man is actually decently smart and he connects the dots quickly. His mouth curves into a heavy smile, nothing mocking in it at all, and he steps forward again into Arthur's space. Arthur moves to step back, but the whiteboard is behind him, and he can tell from the corner of his eye that if he moves much further, he will smear marker on his suit. "Oh, _darling_," Eames murmurs, his voice a little huskier than normal, "you think that they mean nothing?"

By this point, Arthur realizes he might have been a little wrong. "You—" he starts to accuse, but Eames presses a finger to his lips, his eyes dark with intensity.

"There's only one reason I've overstayed my welcome here, love, and it's you," Eames tells him, not a hint of mirth in his expression or his tone. He is more serious than Arthur has seen him in ages. Not entirely by his own choosing, one of Arthur's hands tangles in the garish maroon cloth of Eames' sleeve. "After the Fischer job, I have no need for money any time soon, and what better holiday than spending time with the person I care about?" His expression is very pointed, as though to say, _that's__you,__you__idiot,_ but Arthur has already figured this out and his cheeks feel very warm.

"Eames—" he begins again.

"I'm going to ravish you now, unless you have anything else to discuss," Eames cuts him off, bringing one large hand to cup the back of his head and kissing him thoroughly. After an initial moment of panic, Arthur concludes that he does not have a problem with this at all and opens his mouth wide to Eames' kisses, to the feel of Eames pressed tight against him, chest to chest and hips to hips. Eames kisses like he does all things, passionate and in the moment, and Arthur feels as though all of his competence is being swept away by the ridiculous feelings he has. He's about to shove Eames away, protest this and get on with his work, when Eames breaks the kiss and grins wickedly at him. He kisses a path to Arthur's ear and says in a voice even huskier than before, "_darling_."

Arthur pretty much stops thinking after that point.


End file.
